DONNELLSON, Iowa – Chris Martin won out in a classic Sprint Invaders battle that saw three lead changes Friday night at Lee County Speedway.
The win for the 2016 Sprint Invaders champion was the sixth of his career, and came aboard the Chris Martin Racing No. 44.
The 25-lap feature got off to a tough start, as eighth starter Paul Nienhiser got sideways in front of the field. Luckily, no contact was made and he restarted at the tail.
A second try at green saw two-time and defending series champion, John Schulz, tip over in turn three. He was uninjured.
Polesitter Kaley Gharst shot out to an early lead ahead of Josh Higday and Martin, before someone hit the turn four cone two laps in. A simultaneous incident in turns one and two ended the night for Cam Martin and Dugan Thye.
The caution negated a Chris Martin pass of Higday for second.
Gharst led again at the green flag, and got into lapped traffic by the ninth circuit. On lap 11, Higday dove to the bottom of turn three and slid in front of two cars, the leader and a lapper. The daring move gave him the lead.
Martin would used a similar move to get by Gharst for second on lap 13. Riley Goodno entered the top three by moving by Gharst on the following circuit. Later, it was learned the 17-year-old driver had no brakes.
Martin ran down Higday and slid in front of him to take the lead on lap 17. Lapped traffic became heavy, but with five laps to go, Austin Miller banged into the turn four guardrail to bring out one more caution.
In clean air, Martin pulled away to win ahead of Higday, Goodno, hard-charger Lynton Jeffrey, who came from row 10, and Dustin Selvage.
Nienhiser recovered from the tail for sixth, and Colton Fisher, Randy Martin, Glenn Saville and Cody Wehrle rounded out the top 10.
Randy Martin, Higday and Chris Martin won heats, and Higday also claimed the Dash.
“We’ve had a lot of mishaps this year,” said Martin in victory lane. “It’s definitely been a challenge, that’s for sure. I knew we had a good car coming here. I’ve gotten comfortable here the last two or three years. This is always a fun track, and I’m excited we won here finally. We were racing hard with our friend Josh Higday. He’s helped me out in the past a bunch. It’s always fun racing against friends.”
“Altogether it was a good night,” said Higday. “Of course, we would have liked to win the feature, but sometimes you just can’t get her done. We came home second tonight, and tomorrow we’ll see if we can be one spot better. I just had to go for it (his early pass for the lead). I just felt like I freed up the longer the race went. The wing went forward for some reason. I don’t know if I was hitting it when I was racing or what. We just gave it one more shot at the end. We just came up a little short.”
The finish:
1. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (3) 2. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (2) 3. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (7) 4. 83, Lynton Jeffrey, Prairie City, IA (19) 5. 88, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (9) 6. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (8) 7. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (5) 8. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (6) 9. 70K, Glenn Saville, Razorback, NSW, Aust. (18) 10. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (10) 11. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (4) 12. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (20) 13. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (17) 14. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (11) 15. 4, Bailey Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (16) 16. 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (1) 17. 83A, Austin Miller, Lacona, IA (15) 18. 11T, Dugan Thye, Burlington, IA (13) 19. 44m, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (14) 20. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (12) 21. 84K, Wayne Kniffen, Fort Madison, IA (21) DNS – 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA; 41, Noah Samuel, Burlington, IA; 31, Austin Sears, Macomb, IL; 2D, Dave Keperling, Hannibal, MO.
Lap Leaders: Gharst 1-10, Higday 11-16, C. Martin 17-25.
Hard Charger: Lynton Jeffrey (+15)